The present invention is concerned generally with a guitar type stringed instrument, and more particularly, with a guitar which may be played either by strumming or bowing.
Prior art guitars, which are intended to be played by strumming or plucking of the strings, are generally formed with a substantially flat shaped neck, nut and bridge. That is, the strings are normally supported by the nut and bridge with the strings lying in spaced apart relation in substantially the same plane. In this context, the term "neck" is taken to mean the top surface thereof over which the strings lie, which surface is commonly identified as the fingerboard. Although some guitars are made with the top neck surface having a slight curvature, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,732, the curvature is not sufficient to permit the guitar strings to be played with a bow.
To play any stringed instrument with a bow, such as a violin, cello or bass violin, it is necessary that there be sufficient space (height and width) between adjacent strings so that each string can be played individually with the bow. For these instruments, it is usual to provide supporting structure to support the strings in substantially a symmetrical arc relative to the body portion of the instrument. However, since the guitar is not intended to be played with a bow, its string supporting structure is traditionally different from that of the above stringed instruments. The present invention enables the guitar to be played either by strumming or bowing while being held in the traditional manner. Such an instrument has a unique sound in that it can be used to produce various unusual effects either by strumming or bowing the strings interchangeably, as desired. When used with a microphone pickup or a traditional sounding box, the resulting instrument can produce a myriad of unique sounds and has great versatility as a musical instrument not previously available with prior guitar structures.